The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the bulk fabrication of piezoelectric ultrasound transducer arrays.
At present, ultrasound transducers are produced via expensive and labor-intensive processes. These processes may include steps for grinding, lapping, and dicing different materials to precise thicknesses and dimensions, cleaning and surface treating the individual parts, aligning and gluing them together, then dicing to create an array. Further, each transducer array is manufactured individually, leading to low volume manufacturing. The cumulative effect of so many manual steps limits product repeatability, leading to lower yield, and less product uniformity.
In order for ultrasound imaging to expand from premium and mid-tier diagnostic imaging to primary care and rural applications, including into developing countries, a low-cost process amenable to automation and high volume production is needed.